I was in an earlier mission and I picked a super watcher. When my forces came in contact with the enemy I ended up in a head to head with a frigate. The frigate had just launched through all but one of its missile tubes (so it could only fire one missile). There were no other ships in the direct vicinity so it was pretty much a one on one. So I of course had lined up and shot off a couple blues into his face and was turning. As I turned the frigate shot off a missile which happened to be a daycorn. I figure its ok, after all what can a little daycorn do? But no, the sucker flies smack dab into my right side as I turn past him and then Boom im dead. That's right, a fully shielded super watcher took a hit to a fully shielded side from a weak little daycorn and exploded. There were no other ships nearby, and no other missiles flying at me. Just a single shot, a single explosion, and another commander dead. Dang my luck stinks. So has anyone else had this happen before?

Very true, however I have yet to see a ship design that makes you impervious to being hit by anything ever

Though I have discovered that the best way to avoid a single missile killing you, is to put two command modules on opposite sides of the ship (usually left and right wings for me since I take most of my hits in the front or back).

Definitely. Some of my ship designs have no shielding at all, though I, too, took note on the fact that redundant cockpits increase survivability drastically. Though one hit might cripple that little fellow pretty badly it still goes on flying.

Yeah, BZA's Survivabubble series is really good in that aspect. I designed a ship called the UFO before seeing them, and it has similar properties, but is a much cheaper and lighter ship. A bit more agile too. It can take a beating, but often it doesn't have to.

That's the real trick isn't it. Surviving enough missions till you can afford and get a double command module ship. I am going slowly insane though since my last 3 commanders have all died before I could get one and all have died because a single daycorn took out their shields and module in one hit. Maybe I should make a nice cheap double module ship for early missions.

Command modules are cheap, really; it won't put too much of a dent in your pocket to add another one onto even your lowest-end designs. Every single one of my custom ships has at least 2 command centers, and some have as many as 4. Even my ships designed for AI usage have multiple command centers.

My two cents worth - I've noticed before that missiles seem to be able to slip in through the 'corners' of your shielding.

And yes, the answer is definately more command centres - my high end custom models all have 4-6. And a couple of repairbots!

For the early missions, before my custom ships are available, I always fly Falcons then Eagles because they have two command centres - though their rear armour sucks...

I shied away from designing my own ships for a year and stuck to the stock ships. At the end of that time I was REALLY good with Eagles so my own designs mimic their flight and armourment characteristics, though with the shortcomings minimised.

Eventually I earn enough credits and my own designs become available - then the game REALLY starts!

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I've been away a while and it's good to be back - I've missed you guys!

The one thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

TheKangaroo wrote:It really seems I am the only one around here whose custom ships actually cease to be available after a while...

Mine would, as I tend to find more fun in getting the most out of 55, 75, 100, 110, 120, 130, and 150 credits, except I usually die before I get far enough that they cease showing up. Most of my favorite customs are 100 and 110 credits, with a couple real fun ones at the 130 credit level.